Sales & Marketing | C-

Key Points – Sales & Marketing

Uses independent resellers?

Yes

Promotes deceptive rate quotes?

Yes

Discloses all important terms?

No

Securus Payments appears to utilize in-house telemarketing and independent sales agents to market its services. Although common in the credit card processing industry, the use of independent sales agents is often a cause for complaint among merchants, as it can be difficult for any company to regulate the conduct of independent sales entities. Securus appears to be no exception, as we have located numerous negative Securus Payments reviews that describe misrepresentation of rates, nondisclosure of terms, and aggressive or manipulative tactics by Securus sales agents. Additionally, some of these complaints have been filed by former employees of the company alleging a lack of support for agents, non-payment of owed residuals, and an unprofessional workplace.

The Securus Payments website also contains a table promoting rates “as low as 1.59%” for swiped, internet, and MOTO transactions. While it’s entirely possible that these quotes accurately refer to the company’s “Qualified” rates, the website makes no mention of the “Mid-Qualified” and “Non-Qualified” rates that merchants would pay for the majority of their transactions. We consider this type of rate quoting to be deceptive, since it could give merchants an unrealistic expectation of the effective rate they will pay. Multiple merchant complaints confirm that there is sometimes a difference between the rates represented by agents and the rates that merchants ultimately pay to Securus.

Costs & Contract | C-

Key Points – Costs & Contract Terms

Swiped rate:

Variable

Keyed-in rate:

Variable

Termination fee:

$495

PCI compliance fee:

$159 per year

Equipment lease:

48 mos./non-cancellable

According to merchant complaints on this site and elsewhere, the standard Securus Payments agreement appears to be a three-year contract through First Data with an early termination fee of $495 and other miscellaneous fees, including a monthly minimum of $20, a $159 annual PCI compliance fee, and a variable monthly statement fee. The payment processing rates appear to follow a tiered pricing structure and may not be appropriately outlined by sales agents in all cases. Merchants also report being locked into expensive long-term equipment contracts as an undisclosed condition of their merchant agreements. These terms appear to be slightly more expensive than industry averages, resulting in a “C-” grade in this category.

Complaints & Service | C-

Key Points – Complaints & Service

Total complaints:

40+

Live customer support:

Yes

Most common complaint:

Hidden fees

We are currently able to locate at least 40 non-BBB Securus Payments complaints, many of which accuse the company of being a ripoff or a scam. Common themes among complainants include deceptive or high-pressure sales tactics by sales agents, expensive contract terms including large, undisclosed termination fees, and difficulty reaching customer service representatives. Many merchants indicate that their greatest expenses while processing through Securus are related to their equipment leases, which can cost thousands of dollars to cancel. This is a rather high complaint rate for a company that has only been active since 2009. The company lists a direct phone line on its website, but it is currently unclear whether and to what degree First Data handles the customer support for Securus Payments.

BBB Report | F*

Key Points – BBB Report

Product/service:

56

Billing/collection:

9

Advertising/sales:

53

Guarantee/warranty:

2

Delivery:

0

Securus Payments is not an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau. As of this review, Securus does not have a rating with the BBB, and there is no complaint information available on the company’s BBB profile. Securus has previously informed the BBB that it will not respond to complaints submitted through the BBB, which may partially explain the current state of its profile. In 2013, the CEO of Securus publicly addressed the company’s BBB rating in this article.

At the time of our previous update, Securus had an “F” rating with the BBB and had 120 complaints filed against it in the previous 36 months (up from 96 at the time of the prior update). Of the total complaints, 53 were filed in regards to advertising or sales issues, 56 stemmed from problems with the company’s products or services, nine involved billing or collections disputes, and two were related to guarantees or warranties. Securus managed to successfully resolve 18 of the complaints; the remaining 102 were either not resolved to the customer’s satisfaction or not responded to at all. The BBB has posted a notice on the company’s profile stating that Securus has informed the BBB that it will not respond to complaints filed through the BBB. This explains the high number of unaddressed complaints, but does not reflect positively on Securus in any way. In this case, we agree with the most recent grade that the BBB has shown for the company.

Bottom Line

Securus Payments rates as a substandard merchant services provider according to our rating system. The company’s overall rating suffers from complaints about its sales practices, its contract terms, and its complaint resolution record. The company’s refusal to respond to BBB complaints, in particular, has lowered its score dramatically. Merchants are advised to examine their contract terms carefully and only deal with agents they trust.

This review was originally published on 2/11/13 and was last updated on 3/27/15.

About Phillip Parker

Phillip Parker is a former merchant services agent turned small business advocate and the author of "Fee Sweep," which teaches merchants how to dramatically lower their processing rates, eliminate junk fees, and avoid fine-print scams. He founded CardPaymentOptions.com to help merchants enact positive change in the credit card processing industry.

35 comments

I am looking into a new cc processing company, and was asked to send previous month statement. I am not in billing dept. so I took a really close look at previous months bill. We were being charged $14.95 a month for a non valid TIN number. I called to check into it and the girl said we have been contacting you on this matter for months and you won’t reply so we have to keep charging you. I asked how they tried to contact me,she said email. I said ok, what dates, I should have record. She then admitted they didn’t have my email address. They said that even though the IRS has postponed the requiring a matching TIN I have been billed $14.95 for 2 years!! I know it is my fault for not looking more closely at the bill, I will own that. I believe they did have my correct TIN number, they just slid in the fees after being with them for a year. Other complaints,: lied to about terminal lease agreement, impossible to speak to human unless waiting 30 minutes +. These guys need to be stopped.

Salesman promises to lower your credit card processing fees including $100.00 per month equipment lease. Then you find out you are paying about the same or slightly higher for credit card processing before the $100 lease payment. Then you are required to purchase insurance for equipment at $9.95 per month leased from first data for 48 months NON CANCELABLE forget about the promise of saving money. Also First Data says value of equipment is $3,000 plus when it is actually $250.00. Stay away from Securus, First Data and First Data Global Leasing. SCAM. Was just in Transunion class action lawsuit, will contact lawyers involved in that suit in the morning.

Please tell me more about the law suit. I am so completely disgusted with this company. I was cold called and promised many things by the sales person which to be frank were total lies. I have paid my $495 early termination fee 45 days ago, they are still accruing fees (including a $95/month fee for not using the service) and now ai am completely un able to contact anyone from the company. I try every day and after following all the prompts and entering my merchat ID, I get a busy signal. Worst business experience I have ever had. Worst company I have ever dealt with.

I have been with Securus for 1 year. The company made many promises that they have never delivered on. My rate with Securus, which should have been substantially better that my previous credit card processor has been substantially higher. It has cost me thousands of dollars, and now I find out I am in a contract. To get out I need to give Securus the opportunity to beat my new rate. They never beat the old rate. I pay equipment rental fees that I never paid before, for equipment I don’t need. I end up on hold at least 10 to 30 minutes everytime I call in. The customer service representatives are ignorant, I receive contradicting information from everyone I speak with and the manager Chris Adams is a demeaning and difficult.

This company is not forth right. They have been taking money ( and still attempting to) from our account for months, and we never even activated the account!! First Data, their equipment company is doing the same! They actually have had their equipment back and after proving that they still continue to take money out because Securus refuses to tell them we are not involved with they’re company. They never mention the equipment rental in the original agreement, but we caught it when reviewing the contract to sign. This is they whole reason we chose NOT to do business with them! F is the rating they deserve! They swindled us and we now are paying the bank for stop pays. DO NOT believe anything their representatives say!

salesman came in and promised to save me 17.54% on fees. no hassle switch-over with a letter of guarentee that if I didn’t save money, I could terminate contract with no questions asked. I received first fees for partial month’s participation. Fees were larger than promised. Salesman replied that you can’t judge by partial month.
Went another full month. Fees were more than previous processor and my terminal quite working. Called support about machines. They said I have to hook-up to internet. Thats not what I signed up for. Going to stop payment and get a lawyer. Problems: Money was not getting into my account. took 2 weeks to get it straight. Tech. assistance on weekends were slow to respond. equip. does not work. am not saving money. Locked into lease that has faulty equipment. Customer service gave me run-a-round. Letter of quarentee has VP phone number to call if problems which is not valid. Salesman said from beginning that I could terminate if fees were not cheaper than other processor. Fees were higher. I called Company and am told that someone will call me which has not happened. You can call me at my business at [Redacted – Phone numbers not allowed] to verify. In fact, this company is costing me more money than previous processor. Do Not Sign Lease Agreement.

I was an employee until recently, and I’m going to be honest about this company. You will find a team of customer service and tech support personnel who work hard to assist the customers. However their hands are tied by the policies and procedures set by management. My advise to any merchant is simple, don’t sign the app because it’s really a contract. Don’t sign a lease, because it will cost you way more then you need and can’t be cancelled only bought out. Don’t process with them at all because then you’ll be locked in contract. A contract they do not want cancelled, I have been told in the past to not send any cancellation documents to merchants if their contract is less then 30 days old. This company is designed to make money, as all companies are. But I have seen this company send small business owners to collections for fees that weren’t explained by their reps, and then those same business have gone under. It is my advise to process with anyone else but Securus Payments.

I just got an offer to work with them. I’m glad I’m reading the reviews before I do anything with them. Was the pay as good as they are making it sound? I’ve been involved in a scam before and I’m not trying to go down that road again.

worst company ever, representative said it will be no contract, now i have to pay $495.00 not only that those people will not help you at all, not professional, we set up a time to talk about and they never called, never send me the card reader, never send the paper work, no emails, worst merchandise service.. I will not recommend this merchandise service to any one.

Like several of the comments abve, I am embarrassed to have been taken advantage of to the degree that this company has done to me. I was not born in a tree and I have not been living under a rock but I was flat out bald faced lied to by the sales person! There is simply no other way to describe it. ANd when I finally realized what was happening …(hundreds of dollars in charges that were never revealed to me … worse yet … charges that I specifically asked about over and over during the sales process and was assured that they would not be an issue for me) … I was unable to get ahold of any of the agents for weeks at a time. When I finally did get ahold of them I was lectured about the responcibilities of signing a contract without thoroughly reading the fine print and told to pay the $495 if I wanted out. THis has been a terrible experience. Never use this company for any reason!!!

Sales personnel have to know that they were committing Fraud in the Inducement.
They sent comparative statements which purported to show a small savings of about $80 per month. The total processing credit was correct. but the interior numbers were plugged to equal the total cards processed. When I costed it out using the correct interior numbers they had increased our card processing cost by $200 per month. They were immediately told to cancel the contract. So far they have declined., if they successfuly steal any funds from our account. Their salesman may not know that the company is doing fraudulent analyses. That is what can make this fraud so effective. I am considering filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and if injury occurs requesting prosecution by the California Attorney General. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!! I signed up with them with a “no cancellation fee” agreement Securus can be reached at 1-866-649-1324 I signed up with this credit card processing company…wished that I looked at these reviews first there has to be laws and rules the ISOs have to follow. How does a company get away with lying?? This industry makes my heart sick. if you have to lie to get a sale… fine another line of work. this is peoples lives and money and families that are being messed with.Highly unethical and exploitative business practices, extremely poor customer service. merchants beware

I agree totally with Chris and the other complaints that I have read against Securus Payments. I am willing to join in on filing a class action lawsuit against this company. I was told today that I am being charged for a second account for my web sales and was emailed the information to set it up. I asked what email they sent it to since I have not seen any information on this. Chris with Securus said that information was not available for them to tell me. They do lie about everything from the set up of the terminal to the fees. DO NOT SIGN UP WITH THIS COMPANY.

this is by far the worst lying company I have ever ever ran across. I have a business owner that cancelled his account within 3 days… the machine arrived the next day..(if only they were they quick to return a phone call.)
they never left the orginial contract with the merchant. why do you think that you would be? giving the benefit of the doubt… we called to get a copy of the contract. Nope.. they emailed a blank contract. requesting numerous times in the same day … we received an email with some of the rates included in the email. not what my business owner was told. not at all. He was told he would pay only 89.00 a month to process up to 16,000. Knowing this business we KNOW that there is no way.
So, making sure I could explain what he was told.. or seeing it in writing.. then we could go over exactly what he was going to get.
they said there is NO contract. None at all. nothing to risk. I told the owner to NOT process on that machine. we called to send it back.and we could not get anyone to give us an address. we had no paperwork.
finially a few days later we received a contract in the email. there was a lease and LEASE of 89.99 for 48 months. plus processing fees. when his mother called them. they were horrible and disrespectful. I heard the conversation. he was talking about tiered pricing and didn’t even make sense. I don’t think he understood what he was saying.
they have yet to follow through and now the business gets a confirmation from first data global leasing.
he never ever ever agreed to a lease. He said it was all inclusive for 89.a month. how can a company get away with lying? the new rep was a day on the job. he repeated whatever the business told him to say. they are horrible and to train a new rep this way is disgraceful.
there has to be laws and rules the ISOs have to follow. How does a company get away with lying?? This industry makes my heart sick. if you have to lie to get a sale… fine another line of work. this is peoples lives and money and families that are being messed with.
I do need help and need to know who to reach out to to help make this right for my business.. and other businesses that have been messed over. if you want to sell a lease.. explain it so they know what they are signing. to sign people up without their knowledge is plain fraud and should be punishable. maybe that company should pay for their processing fees for 48 months for lying. shame on you!! Securus shame shame on you.
I need to know who to report them to as this needs to be corrected immediately and not be on their credit report as well. we have yet to get a letter that is was cancelled. sme email acknowledgment would be great. and also a letter to let First Data leasing to know that this whole transaction was misleading, fraudulent and is has been promised to be canceled in full completely.
please someone…. I will uncover every person and write emails to every source to fix this. this is the only reason why I am still in this business is to help businesses understand and learn and do whats best for them. Not scam them.

Securus is a complete scam they promise the best rates but their system does not work, they charge a compliance fee of $170 a year and $25 per month and I have not been able to process through securus’s service but once during a test in over a year. if you get a call from them and you answer the phone they will call you repeatedly.
caution stay away from this scam

Had a resume posted and got a phone call for a job. Asked why territory was open for six months. He said I would be trained thoroughly by a two day live online training session. WAS I EVER GOING TO SEE ANYONE FROM THIS COMPANY IN PERSON. Said he would email company info by email. Guess I asked too many questions never received anything.

I have sold cc processing packages for several different companies now and I have sat down with hundreds of business owners and reviewed their statements. If you are going to switch companies, for god sake do not be dumb enough to purchase your equipment, cc processing will be going through a revolution like picture tube tv’s did. When you decide, knowing what I know now after multiple companies under my belt and seeing statements on the rest, All THAT SHOULD MATTER TO YOU IS ONE SIMPLE THING, JUST ONE, and that is?????? I DON’T CARE IF THE SKY IS BLURPLY BLORANGE, WHAT IS THE OVERALL COST OF DOING BUSINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t care if your equipment is free, which it never is, or your lease for 6 machines is $475 a month, when you take your total fees that you pay whatever the DUCK they come from and divide by the total processed, you will receive your percentage cost to do business, THE FACT IS ALL COMPANIES ARE IN BUSINESS TO MAKE MONEY, SOME DO IT ON FEES, SOME DO IT ON RATE MARK UP, SOME DO IT ON EQUIPMENT, so who gives a shit how it’s made as long as the new company gives you equipment that will process both cards for now and they have the lowest combined overall cost. Honestly, I am kind of shocked reading your comments and I will tell you why…… I don’t care what the company is that I have reviewed statements on, 99.5% of all business owners I have met do not understand their current bill, their current fees, have no idea how much it is all truly costing them, and then to top it all off due to regulation changes qualify for tier 1 but are being marked up to tier for profit. These same b.owners are either tied into very large fees to cancel, or even worse had to buy the equipment outright and then are also being charged software fees, customer service, warranty fees, and maintenance fees on top I have read a bunch about the equipment charges and this rates and this not being what you were told(it’s unfortunate If you had a salesman with no morals and lied to you, for that I am sorry. However as far as the contracts having different rates on them then what you were told…. I don’t think so) the simple fact of the matter is every company functions differently so, it is your job to know how the one that you chose functions and pay attention to the transactions…. do you know that the majority of mom and pop store plastic is in the format, 77%avg, of debit cards or prepaid debit cards. So I will give you an example, securus has a 0% debit card charge, when you are sold by them they Always gave me 2 different types of programs to pitch one debit free and one regular. I did my job correctly and informed the client exactly what each entailed and low and behold I would always always recommend that you get a side pin pad when they chose the debit program and low and behold the ones that fought me over the equipment charge for the additional items would be the same one that would call me complaining, I wonder why. The fact via if you push you customers to use debit the savings was absolutely tremendous,

Horrible Company!!! I just got charged around $400 in fees that they can not tell me why and also say they can not refund them. CROOKED COMPANY!!!!!! Customer service was HORRIBLE and DID NOT WANT TO HELP!! Kept running me in circles. Did not care I was going to get my attorney involved. When I said cancel, they did not care and only said “You will be charged $495 SIR!!! Horrible!!! Horrible reviews on Ripoff Report also.

In San Diego, Ca. the company reps may have started their own ISO company. The company may be named Coastal Pay. Does any one know anything about this newer company? I’ve checked w/ Ca. Secretary of State regarding articles of incorporation, but I’ve not discovered the new entity name. Two Securus Payments reps have visited my place of business. I’ve signed nothing.
Who left the Securus company? The good eggs or the bad eggs?

This company is a TOTAL RIp-off. It’s been 3 years and 2 days I’ve had to pay 52.95 monthly plus 2000.00 for a machine that I did not use. Their liars, they don’t answer the phone and when they do they laugh at you. My very last statement had a 99.00 charge added to it for a “lack of use fee” what kind if a company does that. When signing my contract J.P. Sturis crossed out and initialized my contract to void out the early term fee and several other changes we both initialed only to see the smudged fine print on the last page that states any markings or change slashes in the contract are not accepted. This company is a discrace to all businessEs. Close your bank account and save yourself!!!!!

total criminals. do not sign anything. they promise the world and then switch the terms on the contract.
then they start taking money for no reason until you cancel. then they take money because you cancelled.

Sales personnel were very sincere and may not have know that they were committing Fraud in the Inducement.
They sent comparative statements which purported to show a small savings of about $80 per month. The total processing credit was correct. but the interior numbers were plugged to equal the total cards processed. When I costed it out using the correct interior numbers they had increased our card processing cost by $200 per month. They were immediately told to cancel the contract. So far they have declined. We will see them in court, if they successfuly steal any funds from our account. Their salesman may not know that the company is doing fraudulent analyses. That is what can make this fraud so effective. I am considering filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and if injury occurs requesting prosecution by the California Attorney General. Thank you for your time and service.

I just got scam by securus sale man carson cook. I was promised to get free equipment and and free paper, lower rate than my previous merchant company by carson cook from securus. it ended up i had to pay 150.00 per month for renting the equipment from first data and over paying from 80 to 90.00 dollars more than my previous company every month, I was told that if i was not satisfied i could cut ties with this company with no penalty. It turns out they use collection company to threaten me to pay 8,960.00 for them, when i cancel with them. what an “good company” to make money by doing. what an ashamed

Securus Payments absolutely and underhanded company. Hidden charges. Do not live up to contractual promises nor do they intend to. Don’t re-imburse charges even they agree are invalid. Charges over 2% above what they promised. Difficult to reach by phone. No follow-up to promises. Bored with my complaints. Next step is to spend even more money for an attorney to represent me. They are unethical.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!! I signed up with them with a “no cancellation fee” agreement. Upon receiving our terminals we discovered they do not accept our current gift cards nor did the ones that I purchased from them work. It was one problem after another. When I went to cancel my “agreement”, I find out there is a 500.00 cancellation fee and also a 9000.00 cancellation fee for the terminals. Trying to resolve the issue professionally I have called numerous times and left messages and can’t get a return phone call to save my life! Very unprofessional.

I have a complaint in to the BBB on Securus Payments right now. A saleman came to our small family business. Told me all kinds of great things about their credit card processing. NO lease, no ëxtra fees on top of %. On and on…. Had me sign papers, then took papers with him to bring back later. He forged my initials all over the place on the papers and then when I read stuff, everything was just the opposite as what he had stated. I have been on the phone with their Oregon offices for almost 2 weeks and bottom line now is. For me to cancel it will cost me $495. As they stated, “They have a signed contract from me and they were not there when I talked to their rep” It’s my word against his. I can not believe, at my age, I got swindled like this. I feel so stupid. Is there any help out there for me???

Do not use this company! They offerered us great rates, and even claimed that they worked with the company that handles our POS transaction software and claimed that there would be no compatability issues. When we attempted to set up up the processing through them, there were multiple issues due to incorrect processing information given, rude customer service when attempting to rectify the situation, and we ultimately found out that they were not compatable with our processing software and that no such claim was given. In addition, fees which were not listed in the contract have been charged to us, and multiple attempts to contact the company have been ignored, including multiple messages on the personal lines of two different managers including Darin Docker. Every attempt to rectify the situation rebuted, we recommend that every business think twice before they decide to allow this company to handle their card processing!

They wont STOP calling me! I told them politely, I was not interested and to remove me from their call list. Each day that goes by seems to multiply the number of calls I get! I have received 4 calls from them today (so far) alone! I am filing a complaint with donotcall.gov when I get done here. This is rediculous! I have a business to run! NO MEANS NO!!!!! This ranks right up there with GOOGLE’s BS! I would not do buisness with them even if it were FREE because of this!!!!!!